Sunday Streets Encourages More Activity

A program in San Francisco closes down streets on Sundays to remove barriers to fitness.

In a previous column we looked at a government program designed to curb obesity by outlawing the sale of large self-serve soda containers. Most of you who left comments agreed that this was an ineffective initiative (er…actually, all of you who left comments agreed this was ineffective).

Let’s look at another government program that I think is actually working; it’s called Sunday Streets. I first learned about this program when then Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, recruited me to serve on his Sunday Streets committee. Mayor Newsom had just returned from a trip to Argentina where he first experienced the Sunday Streets phenomena. The idea behind Sunday Streets is to close certain streets to traffic on Sunday mornings and encourage people to get outside and become more active.

While we all agreed that the government can’t legislate people into shape, one thing the government can do is lower the barriers to becoming more active and make it easier for people to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Sunday Streets does just that.

The Sunday Streets marvel spread across San Francisco quickly and has become a popular and well-attended event. Not only does it bring together a sense of community, it does so in a healthy and upbeat fashion.

Have you seen or been a part of a government-backed program in your community that has made a difference? If so, let’s hear about it. Share your comments with the group so that we all can learn from those practices that are actually working.